You wouldn't believe it, but something actually, truly interesting came out of the Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit yesterday. Apple had conducted a survey to find out why, exactly, consumers opted to go with Android instead of the iPhone. The results are fascinating - not only do they seem to invalidate Apple's claims, they provide an unusual insight into consumer behaviour. The gist? People choose Android not because it's an iPhone copy - they choose it because of Android's unique characteristics.

Apple is trying to make a "trade dress" case that people were fooled into buying Samsung phones because they look so much like Apple phones that they didn't realize they were buying the knockoff. To counter such a case, it's entirely appropriate to ask only those who bought a Samsung phone why they did so.

People aren't stupid. I respect Apple's design and engineering skills, but I don't buy their stuff because I don't want to live in a pretty jail. I can install apps on an Android phone or tablet that Apple would never allow in a million years, like SSHdroid (make your device into an SSH server and see the filesystem directly) just to give one example.